Hood latch assembly

ABSTRACT

A vehicle body hood latch assembly includes a blocking lever pivoted on a latch housing and biased to either a blocked position or an unblocked position by an overcenter spring. The blocking lever includes a blocking edge which, when the blocking lever is in blocked position, is engaged by a tab mounted on a release lever to prevent movement of the release lever from an unreleased position to a released position and consequent undetenting of a bolt. Movement of the blocking lever to unblocked position moves the blocking edge out of the path of the tab and allows movement of the release lever to the released position and the undetenting of the bolt. The tab slides along a return edge of the blocking lever during this movement of the release lever and moves the blocking lever back toward blocked position such that the spring moves overcenter and returns the blocking lever to blocked position substantially concomitant with the undetenting of the bolt.

United States Patent 1 9 Gionet et a]. [451 Oct. 3, 1972 HOOD LATCH ASSEMBLY Primary Examiner Richard E. Moore [72] Inventors: Edmond R. Gionet, Warren; Neil A. Attorney-7w Fluke" and Herbert Furman Hull, Birmingham, both of Mich.

[73] Assignee: General Motors Corporation,

Detroit, Mich.

[22] Filed: July 27, 1970 [21] Appl. N0.: 58,358

[52] U.S. Cl ..292/216, 292/210, 292/DIG. 14, 292/DIG. 24, 292/DIG. 49 [51] Int. Cl ..E05c 3/24 [58] Field of Search ..292/216, DIG. l4, DIG. 24, 292/336, 210, DIG. 26, DIG. 49, DIG. 71

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,507,196 5/1950 Dall ..292/DIG. 14 3,047,325 7/1962 De Vito ..292/DIG. 24 3,232,656 2/1966 Coverly et al ..292/DIG. 24 3,572,793 3/1971 Cole ..292/216 57] ABSTRACT A vehicle body hood latch assembly includes a blocking lever pivoted on alatch housing and biased to either a blocked position or an unblocked position by an overcenter spring. The blocking lever includes a blocking edge which, when the blocking lever is in blocked position, is engaged by a tab mounted on a release lever to prevent movement of the release lever from an unreleased position to a released position and consequent undetenting of a bolt. Movement of the blocking lever to unblocked position moves the blocking edge out of the path of the tab and allows movement of the release lever to the released position and the undetenting of the bolt. The tab slides along a return edge of the blocking lever during this movement of the release lever and moves the blocking lever back toward blocked position such that the spring moves overcenter and returns the blocking lever to blocked position substantially concomitant with the undetenting of the bolt.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENTEBum m2 3.695.659

SHEEIIUFZ ATTORNEY noon LATCH ASSEMBLY This invention relates to vehicle body hood latch assemblies and more particularly to a vehicle body hood latch assembly that includes a blocking member responsive to movement of a release member from unreleased position to released position.

Hood latch assemblies generally include a release member that is moved from an unreleased position to a released position to move a detent to an undetented position and free a bolt for movement to an unlatched position.

The hood latch assembly of this invention provides a blocking member that moves between an unblocked position and a blocked position to block movement of the release member from unreleased position. Moreover, with the blocking member in unblocked position, movement of the release member to released position frees the bolt and substantially concomitant therewith moves the blocking member back into blocked position to block movement of the release member from unreleased position upon return movement thereto.

An object of this invention is to provide a vehicle body hood latch assembly in which movement of a release means to a released position is blocked by a blocking means which is moved to an unblocked position that allows the release means to move to released position to undetent a bolt in latched position and substantially concomitant therewith move the blocking means back into blocked position.

In carrying out this object, the hood latch assembly includes a blocking lever pivoted to the latch housing, with an overcenter torsion spring selectively and alternately biasing the blocking lever to either blocked or unblocked positions. With the blocking lever in blocked position, attempted movement of a release lever from unreleased position to released position causes a release tab on the release lever to engage a blocking tooth on the blocking lever and thus prevent undetenting of a bolt. Movement of the blocking lever to unblocked position moves the blocking tooth out of the path of travel of the release tab and allows the release lever to move to released position to undetent the bolt. During movement toward released position, the release tab moves along a return edge of the blocking lever that is skewed with respect to the path of travel of the release tab such that the blocking lever moves slightly toward blocked position. Substantially concomitant with undetenting of the bolt, this slight movement toward blocked position is sufficient to move the spring overcenter such that the spring biases the blocking lever into blocked position. The blocking lever then blocks movement of the release lever from unreleased position upon return movement thereto.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the front portion of a vehicle including a hood latch assembly according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the latch assembly taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 with the blocking lever in blocked positron;

FIG. 3 is a view of a portion of the latch assembly as in FIG. 2 but with the assembly partially broken away and with the blocking lever in unblocked position;

FIG. 4 is a view of a portion of the latch assembly taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 with the release lever in unreleased position;

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4 but with the release lever partially broken away and in released position; and

-FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken generally along line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, a vehicle generally indicated at 10 includes a hood l2 conventionally mounted adjacent its rearward end for movement'between an open position providing access to the vehicle engine compartment and a closed position, as shown. The hood 12 is held in the closed position by a hood latch assembly generally indicated at 14. An actuating knob 16 is mounted on an instrument panel 18 of the vehicle and is connected to the latch assembly 14 by a Bowden cable 20 in a manner to behereinafter described.

Referring to FIG. 2, the latch assembly 14 includes an open-faced housing 22 to which is welded a flanged housing 24. Threaded nuts 26 are welded to housing 24 and provide means for mounting the latch assembly 14 on the vehicle 10. A forked bolt 28 is movable within an aperture 30 in housing 22 and is pivoted to housing 22 by a pin 32. A torsion spring 34 encircles pin 32 and extends between an edge of housing 22 defining aperture 30 and a bolt arm 36. Spring 34 biases the bolt 28 from the latched position, as shown, to an unlatched position counterclockwise thereof. In latched position, bolt 28 retains a hood mounted keepennot shown, and thus holds the hood 12 in closed position. With bolt 28 in unlatched position, the keeper is free of bolt 28 and the hood 12 is thus movable to open position. A detent 38 is pivoted to housing 22 by a pin 40. A torsion spring 42 encircles pin 40 and extends between a flange 44 of housing 22 and a first detent arm 46. Spring 42 biases detent 38 clockwise to hold detent 38 in a detented position in which a second detent arm 48 is in engagement with a sawtoothed edge 50 on bolt 28. The detent 38 is movable to an undetented position as will be hereinafter described to move the detent arm 48 to the phantom line indicated position shown in FIG. 3 and thus free bolt 28 for movement to unlatched position under the bias of spring 34. As was previously described, when the bolt 28 is in unlatched position, the hood 12 is movable to open position. When the hood 12 is moved from open position to closed position, the keeper engages the leading or lower leg of bolt 28 and moves the bolt 28 to latched position as the detent arm 48 moves into engagement with edge 50 to detent the bolt 28 in latched position and thus hold the hood 12 in closed position.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, a generally L-shaped release lever 52 includes a horizontal web 54 terminating in a downwardlyextending leg 56 and a laterally extending leg 58. A pin 60 pivots leg 58 to a vertical flange '62 of housing 24. A torsion spring 64 encirclespin 60 and-extends between a lower laterally extending portion of flange 62 at 66 and web 54 at 68 to bias the release lever 52 to unreleased position shown in FIG. 4. Release lever 52 is located in the FIG. 4 position against counterclockwise movement therefrom under the bias of spring 64 in a manner to be hereinafter described. The downwardly extending leg 56 of release lever 52 includes a lateral flange 70 that has'an aperture 71 aligned with an aperture in leg 56. The aligned pivots detent arm 48 assumes the FIG. 3phantom line indicated position out of engagement with bolt 28. The hood 12 is then movable to open position as was previously described. The latch assembly 14 thus far described is conventional. I

A releasetab 74 has a flattened end mounted on leg 56 of release lever 52 by rivets 76. A vertical housing 78 is welded to a lateral flange of housing 22 and includes an aperture 80 that receives the free end of tab 74. Engagement of tab 74 with housing 78 at the upper edge of aperture 80 prevents movement of release lever 52 counterclockwise of the FIG. 4 unreleased position under the bias of spring 64. The free end of tab 74 is also received within an aperture82 in a blocking lever 84 pivoted to housing 78 by a pin 86. An overcenter torsion spring 88 between lever 84 and housing 78 selectively and alternately biases lever 84 to either blocked position, as in FIG. 2, or unblocked position, as in FIG. 3. Tab 74 selectively and alternately engages the. lever 84 atone of the upper lateral edges of aperture 82 to locate lever 84 in blocked or unblocked position in cooperation with the bias of spring 88. Dimples 89 space the upper portion of lever 84 from housing 78 to prevent binding of the spring 88 and the lever 84 during movement between blocked and unblocked positions.

With lever 84 in the FIG. 2 blocked position, attempted actuation of the release actuator and movement of release lever 52 from the FIG. 4 unreleased position causes the release tab 74 to engage an upper blocking edge 90 of a blocking tooth 92 which thus blocks movement of the release lever 52 toward the FIG. released position and undetenting of bolt 28. Bowden cable is connected to a tab 93 of lever 84 by an adapter 94 and actuation of knob 16 causes cable 20 to move lever 84 counterclockwise from the FIG. 2 blocked position to the FIG. Sunblocked position. In unblocked position, the release tab 74 is free of the blocking edge 90 and the. release lever 52 is thus free for movement to the FIG. 5 released position upon actuation of the release actuator located adjacent the vehiclegrille. l

As seen in FIG. 3, when the blocking lever 84'is in unblocked position, the tab 74 is movable from the solid lineindicated unreleased position to the phantom line indicated released position. During this movement, tab 74 moves within aperture 80 in housing 78 and along areturn edge 96 of lever 84. Edge 96 is slightly skewed with respect to the path of travel of tab 74 such that lever 84 is pivoted slightly clockwise toward blocked position during movement of tab 74toward released position. Substantially concomitantwith the undetenting of bolt 28, the slight clockwise movement of lever 84 is sufficient to move 'spring;88 overcenter whereupon spring 88, biases lever 84into the FIG.2 blocked position. Subsequently when the release lever 52 moves partially from the released position toward the unreleased" position, tab 74 'engages a lower inclined slide edge 98 of blocking tooth 92. This moves the blocking lever 84 slightly toward unblockedposition but does not overcenter spring 88. When release lever 52 moves into fully unreleased position, lever 84 moves into blocked position with blocking edge of tooth 92 blocking movement of tab 74 therefrom.

The invention thus provides ahood latch assembly in which a blocking member is responsive to movement of a release member from an unreleased position to a released position.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, latch means movable between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means movable from an unreleased position'to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, blocking means movable between an unblocked position and a blocked position blocking movement of the release means from unreleased position, and means moving the blocking means from unblocked position to blocked position in response to movement of the release means from unreleased position.

2. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, latch means movable between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, blocking means movable between an unblocked position and a blocked positionblocking movement of the release means from unreleased position, and cooperating cam and follower means on the release means and blocking means for moving the blocking means from unblocked position to blocked position in response to movement of the release means from unreleased position.

3. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch-assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, latch means movable betweenlatched and unlatched positions, detent means movablebetween detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, blocking means movable between an unblocked position and ablocked position blocking movement of the release means from unreleased position, overcenter means selectively and alternately biasing the blocking means into blocked or. unblocked position, and cooperating cam and follower means on the release means and blocking means for moving the overcenter means overcenter in response to movement of the release means from-unreleased position and thereby moving the blocking means from unblocked position to blocked position.

4. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, a housing, latch means mounted on the housing for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means including a release tab, the release means being movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, a blocking member including a blocking portion and a return portion, the blocking member being mounted on the housing for movement between an unblocked position and a blocked position, and overcenter means selectively and alternately biasing the blocking member into blocked or unblocked position, the blocking portion in blocked position blocking movement of the release tab from unreleased position, the release tab engaging the return portion during movement of the release means and moving the blocking member toward blocked position to overcenter the overcenter means and thereby move the blocking member from unblocked position to blocked position.

5. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a

hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, a housing, latch means mounted on the housing for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means including a release tab, the release means being movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, a blocking lever including a blocking portion, a return portion, and a slide portion partially defining an aperture in the lever receiving the release tab, the blocking lever being pivoted to the housing for movement between an unblocked position and a blocked position, and overcenter means selectively and alternately biasing the blocking lever into blocked or unblocked position, the blocking portion in blocked position blocking movement of the release tab from unreleased position, the release tab engaging the return portion during movement of the release means and moving the blocking lever toward blocked position to overcenter the overcenter means and thereby move the blocking lever from unblocked position to blocked position, the release tab engaging the slide portion during movement from released position to unreleased position and moving the blocking lever slightly toward unblocked position allowing the release tab to move to unreleased position with the blocking portion blocking movement therefrom.

223 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,695 659 Dated October 3, 1972 lnvencofls) Edmond R, (gion t, Neil A. Hull It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

i olumn 3, line 9, after "detent" insert --38 counterclockwisev to undentented position in which detent-.

Signed and sealed this 20th day of February 1973.

(SEAL) Abte st:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER, JR. ROBERT GOT'I'SCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, latch means movable between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, blocking means movable between an unblocked position and a blocked position blocking movement of the release means from unreleased position, and means moving the blocking means from unblocked position to blocked position in response to movement of the release means from unreleased position.
 2. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, latch means movable between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, blocking means movable between an unblocked position and a blocked position blocking movement of the release means from unreleased position, and cooperating cam and follower means on the release means and blocking means for moving the blocking means from unblocked position to blocked position in response to movement of the release means from unreleased position.
 3. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, latch means movable between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, blocking means movable between an unblocked position and a blocked position blocking movement of the release means from unreleased position, overcenter means selectively and alternately biasing the blocking means into blocked or unblocked position, and cooperating cam and follower means on the release means and blocking means for moving the overcenter means overcenter in response to movement of the release means from unreleased position and thereby moving the blocking means from unblocked position to blocked position.
 4. In combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, a housing, latch means mounted on the housing for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means including a release tab, the release means being movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, a blocking member including a blocking portion and a return portion, the blocking member being mounted on the housing for movement between an unblocked position and a blocked position, and overcenter means selectively and alternately biasing the blocking member into blocked or unblocked position, the blocking portion in blocked position blocking movement of the release tab from unreleased position, the release tab engaging the return portion during movement of the release means and moving the blocking member toward blocked position to overcenter the overcenter means and thereby move the blocking member from unblocked position to blocked position.
 5. IN combination with a vehicle body having a hood mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions with respect to a body compartment, a hood latch assembly for holding the hood in closed position comprising, a housing, latch means mounted on the housing for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movable between detented and undetented positions with respect to the latch means, release means including a release tab, the release means being movable from an unreleased position to a released position to move the detent means to the undetented position, a blocking lever including a blocking portion, a return portion, and a slide portion partially defining an aperture in the lever receiving the release tab, the blocking lever being pivoted to the housing for movement between an unblocked position and a blocked position, and overcenter means selectively and alternately biasing the blocking lever into blocked or unblocked position, the blocking portion in blocked position blocking movement of the release tab from unreleased position, the release tab engaging the return portion during movement of the release means and moving the blocking lever toward blocked position to overcenter the overcenter means and thereby move the blocking lever from unblocked position to blocked position, the release tab engaging the slide portion during movement from released position to unreleased position and moving the blocking lever slightly toward unblocked position allowing the release tab to move to unreleased position with the blocking portion blocking movement therefrom. 